: I loved how the story quickly involved a detective and turned Halo for a
: brief moment into a crime mystery. Though I was let down by the
: introduction of Jiralhanae and Human aggressors to stir up some action,
: taking away from what I thought would focus mainly as a narrative
: primarily following detective Veta Lopis. All that kind of withered away
: when I grew more and more interested in the relationship Lopis had with
: Spartans Ash, Fred, Mark, and Olivia. That was an absolutely great cast. I
: also really appreciated the rather abundant introduction of the inner
: workings of a colonial government, something that had long been missing
: from this aspect of the Haloverse.

: I'll leave the more significant spoilers up to anyone who would like the have
: a chat about them with us.

: Anyhoo, it's definitely worth checking out. There's plenty of intrigue and
: mystique for everyone!

I really enjoyed reading this and the character interactions, but all these stories are inconsequential and filler these days. By the end of all these books everything is wrapped up in a nice pretty bow. The good guys win and the galaxy is always the same. Look at FoR, First Strike, Contact Harvest. Each of those ends with a small victory in the scheme of a greater and hopeless future. There are no more stakes in these books or any emotional outcome for the reader.

I am a broken record bringing up First Strike when it comes to Halo stories... but that book was so great and should have been the bar to meet for every book after. A continuation of a story we care about, connections to the game and characters coming forward, meaningful character and plot development, mystery and answers to both questions that are part of the greater mythology and content, and most importantly they had an emotional impact on the reader. The end is great with Chief reflecting on the people he has lost in his life and his ultimate decision to save Johnson.